Knitting on a Bulky Machine with Punch Cards

At the May meeting of the Machine Knitting Guild of Minnesota, Karen put on a wonderful demonstration of how to knit on a bulky punch card machine. Many of the punch cards that come with a punch card machine will knit the same pattern in different techniques, which in turn gives a different look to the finished object. Be sure to check your manual to see which cards will knit which technique before starting. Some patterns don’t work well, if at all, with some of the techniques, such as tuck stitch, in which two stitches cannot tuck side by side. There must be a plain stitch between them.

The techniques that Karen demonstrated were fair-isle, slip stitch, tuck stitch and thread lace.

Note: Please forgive the video quality. Your author is an administrative assistant by profession, and neither a videographer nor a film editor.

To view the video larger, start the play, then hover your mouse over it, and click on the YouTube in the lower right corner to view it directly on YouTube.

Here are close-up photos of the finished sample:

The Fair-isle Sample

The Slip Stitch Sample

Tuck Stitch Sample

Thread Lace Sample

May 09 Program: Thread Lace on a Bulky by Ellen Levernier & Cindy Schmatz

This past February we explored the Thread Lace technique on standard gauge machines, but did you know you can also create beautiful Thread Lace patterns on a Bulky machine? Make sure your bulky knitting machine has a fairisle setting, and you can get to work creating beautiful and unique BULKY Thread Lace!

When selecting your yarn and pattern to create Thread Lace, there are a couple of things to remember:

• For cohesive results, it's a good idea to ensure your thread and yarn colors match. That said, do a few test swatches experimenting with different yarn and color combos
• Use a heavy yarn and a thin yarn for best results. For the "heavy yarn" you can use a double, triple, or even quadruple strand of your yarn. Ellen liked working with 4 strands of Alpaca Lace, while Cindy chose 2 strands of Yarn Country. Lace, Sport, and Fingering weight yarns are great options.
• Avoid long floats.
• Use weights - be sure to place them evenly along your work, moving them up as you knit.
• The thread in feeder 2 or "B" will knit the pattern. Both yarns will knit together on non-patterned areas, so be sure to set the tension for knitting both threads together.
• Set end needles to working position every row to ensure that both threads knit together.

SK Machines (Silver Reed, Studio, Singer): put end stitches in hold every row.
KH Machines (Brother, KnitKing): Push back the end needles if selected by pattern every row.

• Either side of your knitted work can be the right side, depending on your visual preference.
• If you use tuck stitches in your pattern work, your piece will not curl.
• Knit with a smooth rhythm, and pay attention to your edge stitches.

It's scary to think that it's already time to start planning your winter knitting projects. Why not deviate form a basic scarf by sprucing it up with a little Thread Lace!

Note: The terminology Thread Lace refers to that produced on a Brother machine, versus Punch Lace on Studio, Singer, and Knitmaster machines. In the end of the day, Punch Lace and Thread Lace are the same technique.

Feb. 09 Program: Thread Lace - Punch Lace by Carole Wurst

It was a pleasure to have Carole of St. Cloud's Rocking Horse Farm demo Thread Lace at our February meeting!



The Thread Lace technique can usually be worked on knitting machines with a fairisle setting. The terminology Thread Lace refers to that produced on a Brother machine, versus Punch Lace on Studio, Singer, and Knitmaster machines. In the end of the day, Punch Lace and Thread Lace are the same technique.



When selecting your pattern to create Thread Lace, there are a couple of things to remember:

• Use a heavy yarn and a thin yarn for best results.
• When threading the mast, the thin yarn (thread) can be wrapped around the tension unit two times. You may also choose to use a tighter tension.
• Avoid long floats.
• Use weights - be sure to place them evenly along your work, moving them up as you knit.
• The thread in feeder 2 or "B" will knit the pattern. Both yarns will knit together on non-patterned areas, so be sure to set the tension for knitting both threads together.
• Set end needles to working position every row to ensure that both threads knit together.

SK Machines (Silver Reed, Studio, Singer): put end stitches in hold every row.
KH Machines (Brother, KnitKing): Push back the end needles if selected by pattern every row.

• Either side of your knitted work can be the right side, depending on your visual preference.
• If you use tuck stitches in your pattern work, your piece will not curl.
• Knit with a smooth rhythm, and pay attention to your edge stitches.

Spring is upon us - get to work creating Thread Lace Scarves - the perfect weight for the season!

QUICK TIP: Fun and Easy Fringe!
Creating a fringed edge on your knitted piece is super easy and fun.
1. Pick up and hang to stitches from the edge of your work.
2. Determine desired fringe length and pull out 2 additional needles to working position at this length.
3. Knit 2 rows.
4. Pick up next 2 stitches along edge of work and hang on first 2 needles.
5. Knit 2 rows.
6. Repeat.

In the end, you don't even need to trim your fringe. Give it a try - you'll love the results!